Thread: Black tailed crappie

So let's discuss and hear from all the folks out there that might have a clue why this occurs.
One water body I frequent a large portion of the white crappie carry year round blackened tails and sometimes in conjunction with the anal fin.
Have heard several ideas on why it occurs and wonder if there is a diet type thing that causes it and or water quality or exactly what. I doubt it's genetics because fish from above this water body and below it in the same river system don't seem to show signs of it .
Now the one exception to the last statement is the situation where largemouth bass in the lake and below it sometimes sport black spots on the fins ,body and mouth.
None of the fish appear to have any health issues and bite ,fight and eat as well as the next fish.
Have heard eating crawfish causes it on the bass in the river , but kind of doubt that is the case.
Managed to ketch 20 crappie yesterday in the small to smaller range on my lunch break and most if not all the white crappie were sporting this color thing , so what say ya ?
and the images for whatever reason don't show the depth of the black very well .

Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

Here's some "theories" to ponder : https://www.bassresource.com/fish_bi...ss-blotch.html

nice read and much like myself , they seem to have no clue either from what I understood in the article